


bury our toes where the ocean meets the sand

by bellawritess



Category: 5 Seconds of Summer (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Fairy Michael, Fluff, Fluff without Plot, Human Calum, M/M, Rating for Language, genuinely just fluff, in this au anyway, oh my god..........HUMAN CALUM........., since this is fantasy i feel comfortable asking you all to suspend a LOT of disbelief, there's one line about ashton shedding. that's bc he's a werewolf
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-23
Updated: 2020-10-23
Packaged: 2021-03-09 07:00:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,011
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27159679
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bellawritess/pseuds/bellawritess
Summary: As Michael’s feet land softly on the ground, the wings fold back up, and Calum tears his eyes away, instead meeting Michael’s gaze. “So? What brings you here? Ditching class?”“It’s Saturday,” Calum says.Michael shrugs. “I can never remember.” There’s really no reason for a fairy to know the days of the week, so Calum can hardly hold that against him.
Relationships: Michael Clifford/Calum Hood
Comments: 5
Kudos: 21





	bury our toes where the ocean meets the sand

**Author's Note:**

  * For [FayeHunter](https://archiveofourown.org/users/FayeHunter/gifts).



> happy birthday, [emily](https://archiveofourown.org/users/fayehunter)!!! ever since you came into my inbox to discuss the singin in the rain AU in depth it's just been smooth sailing. i loved having you in my inbox and i love having you around in the server, i love your relentless love and positivity for everyone and everything, the way you submerge yourself into the things you love, the passion with which you've been writing the things you enjoy. i love to listen to music with you and to chat about various AUs with you. 
> 
> one such AU, which you and i talked about before you took it to the far more qualified m, was a fantasy AU, so i hope you'll forgive me for stealing some of your ideas and putting them into some ridiculous malum fluff :)) this is not The fantasy!sos AU (with the store, u know). it's just a little pocket universe with fairy michael and human high school student calum and i hope that it makes you smile xoxo
> 
> title from runaways by all time low

Michael is sitting on a tree stump, cross-legged, and he looks up when Calum passes the final tree and reaches the clearing.

“Oh, hi!” he says, pleasantly surprised.

“Hi,” Calum says, coming closer. “Sorry to drop in on you, I guess?”

“That’s okay,” Michael says. “I’m not doing anything important.” And it certainly does seem that way; he’s just sitting, as far as Calum can tell. “You look lost.”

“Well, I found you, so I’m obviously not.” Calum chuckles. “It’s just funny. I’ve never been here. You come to me but I’ve never come to you.”

“Well, welcome to my crib,” Michael deadpans. “Over here you’ll find my trees, and over there, some more trees. Beyond the trees, if you can believe it, we’ve actually got loads more trees.”

“It’s fascinating.” Calum grins. “Tell me more.”

“Nah, I’ve bored you enough,” Michael says as he hops off the stump. His wings flutter in the air for a moment and Calum tries not to obviously stare. He knows he’s not doing a good job. Michael’s wings are gorgeous, the most beautiful things Calum’s ever seen; pink and gold and lavender all shifting in the light, melting into each other, shimmering with glitter. As Michael’s feet land softly on the ground, his wings fold back up, and Calum tears his eyes away, instead meeting Michael’s gaze. “So? What brings you here? Ditching class?” 

“It’s Saturday,” Calum says.

Michael shrugs. “I can never remember.” There’s really no reason for a fairy to know the days of the week, so Calum can hardly hold that against him. “Ditching on Saturday responsibilities, then?”

“A bit,” Calum admits. He’s got chores, but he can do them later. “I just, well, I wondered if you’d want to…hang out? I didn’t really see you all week, and I missed you.” He coughs. “I mean, like, I missed spending time with you, or…this isn’t sounding better.”

Michael approaches, footsteps silent despite falling over crisp leaves. Calum realizes he’s not actually taking steps on the earth, hovering instead, just barely, so the leaves remain intact. “It’s cute,” he says, which only makes Calum blush. “I missed you too. Yeah, we should hang out. What do you want to do?”

Calum shifts. He’d had an idea, but he’s hesitant to suggest it. Michael seems to pick up on his unease. “Spill,” he urges.

“I could drive us to the beach,” Calum says lamely. Immediately realizing his idiotic mistake, he says, “Oh, well, I guess you could fly. But, you know, I can’t fly. But I just figured since it’s nice out, it could be nice to go to the beach? Just to walk, not to swim, I don’t like swimming in the ocean anyway, but —”

“A long walk on the beach?” Michael summarizes. He gives Calum a wry look. “Is this a dating profile?”

Calum makes a face at him. “You can just say no if you don’t want to go.”

“Hey, I wasn’t complaining about it being a dating profile,” Michael says. Calum feels his blush deepen. “Anyway, I never go to the beach, so it’ll be nice.” He chews his lower lip. Calum doesn’t stare (he _doesn’t_ ), but he can’t help notice anyway the way Michael’s lips are the same shade of pink as his wings, his eyes the same color as the green of the leaves around them. Michael looks like he’s forever having his saturation cranked up to 100, and Calum suspects it’s to do with the whole fairy thing, but it makes it very difficult to look away from him.

“Can I ride with you, though?” Michael finally asks. Before Calum can overenthusiastically concur, Michael adds nervously, “I might leave, uh, glitter on the seats and all.”

Calum chuckles. “That’s fine,” he says. “It’s my car. I can handle it.”

“Okay,” Michael says, and gives Calum a pleased smile. “I’ve never been in a car before. I’m excited.”

They fall into step. “Really?” Calum says. He probably shouldn’t be surprised by that, but he is. Has Michael never had friends who drive before? Has Michael ever been friends with a human?

“Really. Just never really needed it, I guess. I mean, I _can_ fly.” Underfoot, the leaves that Michael passes quietly over are crunching noisily from Calum’s footfalls, and he feels like he’s kicking up a real racket. Compared to Michael, he’s the clumsiest, clunkiest person on the planet. 

“But you want me to drive you? Even though you can fly?”

“Well, if I fly, I fly alone,” Michael says, looking down at their feet, which are moving in sync. “This way, I get to be with you.”

A smile steals over Calum’s face. “Oh.” There’s no hope for fighting the blush anymore, but a quick glance at Michael shows he’s blushing too, and Calum figures they cancel out.

* * *

As promised, Michael leaves glitter all over the seats. In fact, he basically gets it all over the whole car.

If it had been anyone else, Calum’s sure it would irritate him to no end. Even Ashton gets a stern look if he sheds in Calum’s car. But Michael is so fascinated by the mechanisms of the vehicle, and so much in awe of Calum’s mastery over all of it at once, that no part of Calum can manage to even pretend to be upset about the glitter.

It adds a certain spice to his ride, anyway, which is what he tells Michael when Michael looks apologetic.

They trek down the sand towards the ocean, which glimmers under the high noon sun. Despite the weather, there aren’t that many people around, only random stragglers here and there, pairs or trios that are all, thankfully, respecting the subdued calm of the beach. Calum’s always really enjoyed coming here. It’s a bit too far to walk, though, and he doesn’t go out a lot because of classes, so days like this are a treat for himself.

This one more so than usual, obviously.

“How’s school?” Michael asks conversationally as they start walking. Calum’s feet sink into the damp sand and he stares out at the long stretch of sand before them. 

“Good,” Calum says. “I mean, apart from that I hate it and wish I could drop out.”

Michael laughs. “Why can’t you?”

“The law, for one.”

“Fuck the law.”

Calum hums and pretends to consider this. “You know, that’s a good point,” he says. “I hadn’t thought about it that way.”

Michael laughs again. “Alright, fuck off.”

“Well it’s much easier for you to say,” Calum says. Their arms are both swinging by their sides, and Calum imagines how easy it would be to just link them, to grab Michael’s right hand with his own left and just hold it. Just to see. Just for a bit. 

“I suppose,” Michael says, inclining his head. “I wish I could help.”

“You are,” Calum says, unthinkingly. Michael looks sharply over at him, confused, and Calum blushes. “I mean, by being around, being my friend. You are helping. It’d be worse if I didn’t have someone to kidnap and take on long walks down the beach, you know?”

There’s a pink glow in Michael’s cheeks, and his smile is shy. “Oh,” he says. “You’re a right charmer, you know that?”

This time it’s Calum’s turn to giggle. “I try,” he says. “All in the name of romancing you.”

“Well, it’s working,” Michael says, and he says it like it’s a joke, but also like it isn’t. Calum doesn’t know if he’s being serious or not, so he lets it slide.

“How is your…whatever you do all day?” Calum asks. 

Michael kicks at the sand, which makes Calum realize he’s actually been walking on it, not floating like he’d done over the leaves. Calum watches where he leaves footprints on the beach, wondering why he’s decided to commit to the sensation of his toes in the sand. “I like to change it up. I’m making flower crowns for some of my friends in the forest so I’ve been working a lot on that.”

 _Flower crowns._ Calum’s going to cry. “That sounds really nice. Who are they for?”

“Uh, there’s a couple of owls,” Michael says. Calum starts. Forest friends; he’d meant _animals._ Because Michael is friends with animals. Fairies are friends with animals. That makes sense. It makes Calum’s heart skip several beats, but it does make sense. “And a family of deer who I’m trying to befriend. I think the flower crowns will be a good bribe.”

The mental image of Michael slowly approaching an apprehensive deer, flower crown stretched out in his hand as an offering of peace, makes Calum laugh. “Well, good luck. I don’t know how to make flower crowns. It seems hard.”

“Yeah, a bit.” Michael shrugs. “I’m not super good at it, but trying to get better.”

“I’d like to see them, when you finish.” Calum glances over at Michael. “If that’s okay.”

Michael grins. “Yeah, alright,” he concedes. Their hands brush between them as waves lap up against the shore, and Calum, with unexpected and sudden bravery, takes Michael’s hand in his own and interlaces their fingers. He hardly dares to check if Michael’s face betrays anything — delight, disgust — so he keeps his eyes firmly on the sand underfoot. But then Michael readjusts his grip and shifts closer to Calum while they walk, and Calum breathes a sigh of relief.

“I can make you one,” Michael says after a moment. “A flower crown. What flower is your favorite?”

The sun is behind a cloud but Calum feels too warm anyway, and nowhere more than in his face, which is flushing pink. “You don’t — you don’t have to do that.”

“I want to,” Michael insists. “Come on, Calum, it’s not like I do much else. I’m not in school.”

Calum has to concede that. “I, uh, okay.” He swallows. “I don’t know much about flowers. Whatever you pick will be lovely, I'm sure.”

Michael gives Calum a cursory, critical look. “Baby’s breath,” he decides. Calum has no idea what baby’s breath flowers look like, but Michael appears to have made up his mind.

“Okay,” he says. “I feel like I should give you something in return.”

“You are,” Michael says, bashfully. When Calum doesn’t seem to understand, he adds, “Right now. This.”

“Oh,” Calum breathes. Between their palms Calum feels something electric, almost, a tingling feeling that spreads from his fingertips and the heel of his hand, chasing its way up his arm and climbing over the back of his neck, reaching all the way to the ends of his limbs. It’s not a phantom sensation but something actual; somehow, Calum knows it’s magic, or at least the faintest impressions of it. He’s never felt magic before, and he likes it, likes knowing it’s what happens when he holds hands with Michael.

They’ve accidentally veered too close to the ocean. When the water comes ashore it splashes over Calum’s bare feet, yet when it recedes Calum finds with slight awe that his feet are dry. They’re still buzzing a bit — all of him is — and he presses his lips together so he doesn’t smile too big, stealing a look at Michael, catching him in the middle of stealing a look at Calum. Both of them smile, and Calum shakes his head.

The sun has returned, and it casts its rays over everything in sight. Light dances over the sea, bounces off the white umbrellas dotting the beach. It’s not a beautiful beach the way they probably are in Brazil, or Turks and Caicos, but, Calum muses with satisfaction, it sure as hell could be a lot worse.

Michael squeezes his hand, and then gasps excitedly. “We can look for seashells!” Pulling Calum along behind him, he hurries away from the shoreline towards the seashells littering the dry sand. Calum laughs as he follows, crouching low next to Michael to dig for pretty seashells, Michael declaring, “I’ll make you a necklace out of the nicest ones.”

It could be a hell of a lot worse.

**Author's Note:**

> a final happy birthday to the wonderful [emily](https://archiveofourown.org/users/fayehunter) i love you and i hope you liked this <3 also hope everyone else liked it either way feel free to come say hello on tumblr [@clumsyclifford](http://clumsyclifford.tumblr.com/) love you guys all okay bye


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